"The growing problem of identity theft and aggressive fraud attacks by increasingly sophisticated online criminals is driving the need for better data security and more effective ways of screening e-commerce order transactions," said Alan Smith, business development director at ClearCommerce. "We continue to add new capabilities to stay a step ahead of the thieves, making it easier for both merchants and service providers to protect revenue and profits from this growing threat."

A core component of the ClearCommerce fraud solution is FraudShield®, a flexible rules engine that enables implementation of a customised order screening process. ClearCommerce Engine 5.5 adds to this a new Risk Management reporting tool that provides the ability to monitor the effectiveness of a specific rule or rules as well as determine the impact of new rules prior to implementation. Merchants can now determine for each rule the percentage of orders that are accepted, declined, or flagged for review, and use this information to improve overall detection of real fraud while minimising excessive rejection of legitimate sales.

Other enhancements include:

• A new user interface that allows system administrators to easily aggregate and apply master negative and positive lists to multiple stores, simplifying management of the solution for merchants with more than one online store and service providers hosting numerous merchant customers.
• Redesigned Application Programming Interface (API), standard integration templates for the leading scripting languages, and new online developers resource that includes complete documentation, sample code, and XML API tutorial to simplify the overall integration process with the company's fraud prevention and payment processing software, and the QuickStart hosted service.
• Support for Hardware Security Mechanism (HSM), a secure external hardware device that provides a higher level of data security and more efficient processing for encryption/decryption of sensitive credit card data.
• An updated payment interface to Barclay's, one of the leading processors in the UK that delivers support for the Visa Global Invoice Specification (VGIS), a European-only mandate that significantly enhances processing and reporting of Visa commercial card transactions.

The ClearCommerce Engine is the leading platform for merchants and service providers that require robust, highly reliable, and scalable financial transaction processing. ClearCommerce helps companies improve the buying experience for their customers, reduce the risks and cost of fraud, increase control over business critical payment data, and achieve a superior return on investment.